From the Slate article titled: Folks in the Caribbean Should Be Hoping for a Hurricane

Most Caribbean economies are closely tied to the tourist trade, and hurricane season is traditionally the time when the influx of beachgoers slows.

So while the tourists are at home, folks in the Caribbean are welcoming a deluge. As Atlantic hurricane season enters its peak August-to-October phase, the best bet for relief at this point is a direct hit by a tropical storm or hurricane.

Let’s see…what’s easier to manage and less destructive to an island economy?

Gee, since one of Slate Magazines Meteorologist Eric’s various companies promises:
“crowdsourcing the most accurate weather forecasts the world has ever seen…) he would know when it is coming.
On the other hand, as President and co founder of Atmospherics Inc., his ” Full-service weather consulting company focusing on extreme weather and climate change adaptation for cities, hospitals, universities and for small farms and organic agriculture in the US and abroad.” he is conjuring up business ?

A relative who was living through a four-year drought in central South Carolina once told me that an occasional hurricane producing heavy inland rains was necessary to periodically recharge their supply of groundwater.

to modify people’s minds, using drugs or other means, “to enhance our moral decisions by making us more altruistic and empathetic,” in a way that would cause us to mitigate our climate-changing activities.

Tropical systems that produce rain are helpful in many cases, as long as it doesn’t flood. It’s the winds, tornadoes, and storm surge that are the problems. Many years here in Florida we are helped greatly by gentle tropical systems.

Currently interrupting the US TV networks, there’s a SPECIAL REPORT where Obama was to talk about the Ukraine, and so far he’s pointed to the numbers pulled out of his shiny butt as proof the economy has had a more ROBUST recovery than ever seen in about any developed country anywhere ever, showing the wisdom of his doing whatever the hell he wants, as we’ll see on immigration, and those foolish Republicans are daring to sue HIM for doing what has clearly worked so well?!

This must be the only way he can get people to listen to him, pretend to address a humanitarian crisis to get attention for what would otherwise be a primetime Presidential Address 97% would completely ignore.

Okay, now he’s already on to the questions, and first one involves foreign policy. So the SPECIAL REPORT on a foreign crisis was nothing more than domestic boasting based on puffed-up deception.

At least he hasn’t mentioned climate change, yet.

But I just KNOW he’ll point to the excellently-recovered economy as proof we can withstand higher energy costs and still do well. As if HE will ever have to worry about paying for gas for his car ever again.

shshshshshsh!!!!! Don’t tell them that hurricanes are getting less and less! The watermelons will be putting hurricanes and tornadoes on the endangered species list!!!! When it comes to the current political environment, SS&S!

Tough call. However, thankfully, at least the well-intentioned helpful important people will be able to decide what makes them feel good and incidentally helps them best without bothering the locals for whom they are only acting in those locals’ own best interest, as always.

After reading about the “crying” incident last year, I read a few of Holthaus’ opinion pieces (impartial reporting they are not) to get a grip on where he was coming from. It astonished me then and astonished me now that someone like him is given such a high profile platform and taken seriously.

Why so serious? Well, for starters, he apparently “was shocked to discover” that flying 75,000 miles added up to enormous carbon emissions and that as a result his carbon footprint was much higher than the average american household.

It took him until October 2013 to work this out.

Then there was his interpretation of AR5. He found that “the world has already experienced warming of up to 2.5°C over nearly its entire surface since the start of the 20th century”. Something that has yet to be discovered in AR5 by anyone. As far as I can tell hee got this information from eyeballing a visual representation of GISS with lots of nasty red in it.

Seriously, sometimes I just want to give up, dig myself a hole and sit in it.

In the 90’s NC had a lot of tropical systems pass through each year thus increasing the “normal” then when we got into the “hurricane drought” and annual rainfall was suddenly below normal even though it was only the missing tropical systems everyone was screaming drought (due to climate change) whenever water sources were taxed due to development and even the slightest of dry spells (well within normal variation).

They do love their flights, these guys, don’t they? I see Cook claimed he was too busy flying between Colorado and Sydney to respond to Tol’s simple request (like that’s true, and no-one ever does any work on their laptop on long-haul flights).

Then again, perhaps those in the climate business really don’t do any work on their flights. I remember sitting close by – oooh, I can’t quite recall his name – in first class on a BA LAX-LHR flight some while before his “No Pressure” video exploded (sorry) on to the scene. It was clear from his conversation with the fawning purser that this was far from being his first time travelling this route in such luxury. Besides the obvious fact that he clearly – and supremely hypocritically – wasn’t prepared to cut his own emissions by 10%, a glass or few of the excellent claret saw him off, and his next environmentally-conscious moments were spent with the cooked breakfast in the morning.

Give him a break, I say. It’s a tough job, saving the planet, and when you’re in the frontline, you need to look after yourself.

In the Slate article, Holthaus is actually complaining that Bertha as a storm is NOT STRONG ENOUGH. That’s got to be a first. A quoted Caribbean forecaster says in the article that the islands are hoping for Bertha to be a mild tropical system when it hits so they can get some rain (1-3 inches is forecast). Holthaus claims they need more rain than that, and that a hurricane would be better than just a heavy rain. And he casually dismisses any damage a hurricane might cause, saying:

“But what about the destruction a hurricane might cause? You know, flooding, mudslides, and the like?

Well, increasingly, the Caribbean has that part covered. An innovative risk-pooling scheme called the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility has recently secured a $30 million catastrophe bond from the World Bank, the first one it’s ever issued specifically for hurricane risk. The idea is being held up as a possible model for climate change adaptation, … “

They’ve got it covered. Isn’t that lovely. I know a lot of people around me here in S. Florida that have hurricane insurance, and I’m pretty sure they would prefer NOT to be filing claims. I’ve been pretty snarky in my comments of late, but dammit there have been so many stupidities from the Climate Scientologists, lately. May a hurricane go up Holthaus’ shorts and solve his vasectomy problem.

There was an online hotel review where a guest noted they limited the number of free frozen drinks and were told by the servers there was a shortage of ice, so yes, they are drought stricken. What more proof do you need?

40+ years ago people in the ZPG (Zero Population Growth) movement were vowing to not have children as well. The overpopulation movement never went away, it just eventually morphed into the CAGW movement we have today. Underneath, the main goals are still the same, with actual facts and correctly practiced science as completely optional components.

Oh no, now it’s :if they get a hurricane, claim for damages against the devoloped world, because any exteme weather event EVAH, that ever happens in the future is the fault of CO2 emitted by developed nations.

PS don’t sue China because a) they are not stupid enough to listen to that kind of crap ; b) their main assests are american debt, and who wnats a slice of that that as reparations?

Holthaus: “Well, increasingly, the Caribbean has that part covered. An innovative risk-pooling scheme called the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility has recently secured a $30 million catastrophe bond from the World Bank, the first one it’s ever issued specifically for hurricane risk. The idea is being held up as a possible model for climate change adaptation, … “

Well, what was I saying , it’s already here, and the green slush fund is not even agreed yet.

I think it is nice that Eric is looking out for the future by having a vasectomy. However, if he REALLY wants to help out, there’s more he could do in the present by making his “personal sacrifice” a little more all encompassing. These people DO believe in population reduction, but “potential population” reduction wouldn’t be nearly as effective as the real thing. Come on all you greenies, lead by example!

Okay, I am just being sarcastic. However, I don’t think it would bother them at all to use “deniers” as reasonable choices for population reduction.

I haven’t spent a lot of time on here lately, but from a quick glance below – no one should be surprised at how nasty some of these people are. A number are misanthropes, and self-loathing comes with that.

It’s in their nature to act they way they do. And, yes, typically people in rich countries like the US are immature. I still submit that an illiterate uneducated 19 year old farmer who lived 200 years ago was far more mature than the typical US adult today. There is no positive correlation between raw intelligence, education, wealth, and maturity level. If anything it’s an inverse relationship between those things and maturity.

Well, I have been through a bunch of hurricanes. Most of them are not too bad. Had to truss up my boat from all directions. BUT occasionally we get an Ike which destroyed my condo on Clear Lake (I know, should have been on higher ground). So a mild ‘cane might be just what the doctor ordered.

Paul Homewood says:
August 1, 2014 at 11:47 am
“Don’t want a vasectomy?
Have smaller children instead!
I kid you not. Some Professor of Bioethics (whatever that is!) at New York University is seriously suggesting we need to look at ways to make humans smaller “to fight climate change””

Ah, that’s Liao. I bookmark off-the-rails ethicists and I noticed a pattern – after they have outed themselves as wannabe shapers of a newer better future against the will of everybody else they tend to never update their blog again; or alternatively, block all comments and continue writing only about the most inconsequential of affairs. It’s too bad – I’m always hoping for one of them telling us how he really feels.

I wonder if we need to set aside a reserve, perhaps in the High Arctic, for the preservation of the endangered climate loony?
For,in large part due to their own nastiness and vile behaviour, I fear the public backlash may make the pogroms of old look tame.
Seldom in history have so many, had their just deserts so due.
For I can not cure stupid, but banishment worked for recent societies.
I recommend Coats Island in the entrance of Hudson Bay.
Sure to be a nice warm place for these charmers to live out their days, free of carbon based products and the anger of those they robbed,lied too and abused.

All you in NY who whine about Sandy…just think about this. Take everything you had and add 3 FEET of snow on top of that…(didn’t have the storm surge, if WV has storm surge, then we’ve got real problems…and the flooding was delayed a week…but that’s what happens when 3′ of snow melts quickly).

You may not have noticed but you inadvertently added the word “becoming”.
———————————————————————————————————————–
JohnWho says:
August 1, 2014 at 1:02 pm
“A nice Tropical Depression or two probably would be extremely beneficial to the Caribbean Islands. Tropical Storm/Hurricane may more do more damage than be helpful.”

Yes, tropical sysems are needed to replenish ground water and the rainfall from them are counted in the annual averages. However dumping too much rain all at once just creates runoff that actually increases off shore pollution. Right now thunderstorms have been lacking in my area and things are drying out quickly. A fairly weak tropical system would be nice right about now.

I wonder if we need to set aside a reserve, perhaps in the High Arctic, for the preservation of the endangered climate loony?”

Put them on the Moon where the climate never changes.”

I keep saying that if they want to remake the planet to their cracked version of reality, we should give them Mars and let them have at it. But they must be relocated to the Martian surface…and they can take all the support materials they think they’ll need.

2 Aug: UK Daily Mail: Christopher Booker: Lunacy on sea: As Ministers agree to the world’s biggest wind farm off Brighton, has Britain ever succumbed to a more catastrophic folly?
What should be our reaction to daft stories like the one recently reported in the Daily Mail about the 60ft wind turbine put up by the Welsh government outside its offices in Aberystwyth to proclaim to the world just how ‘green’ it is?
Erected at a cost of £50,000 to the taxpayer, it turned out that this turbine was so absurdly inefficient it was providing only £5 worth of electricity a month. It would take more than 750 years to make the money back…http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2713830/Lunacy-sea-As-Ministers-agree-world-s-biggest-wind-farm-Brighton-Britain-succumbed-catastrophic-folly.html

It seems they are not investing in grey water recycling. That means they are probably flushing the toilets in all the smart hotels with clean water. Right there is a quick, cheap hit that uses the limited water more efficiently. Something that could be done now in all of the luxury resorts, no new technology needed. It doesn’t mean there is more water, but it does mean you get to use it twice before you dump it back out into the sea.

If he’s worried about population reduction, his vasectomy contribution would be trivial. Hasn’t he seen the news about GM foods, vaccinations and withdrawal of heating for the poor and elderly?
It’s well underway without his help.

In Texas it is not considered offensive to point out that tropical weather frequently busts a drought.
As much as I disdain vasectomy boy I am not certain that what he was saying in this instance is so out of line.
Most tropical weather is relatively mild, but is an inevitable part of living in a hurricane basin.

If you live in the hurricane belt and have half a brain you realize the need to hurricane proof and/or move from harms way.

Today’s Americans see the low lying shore as a nicety, not factoring in the dangers of the storms. I think we can chalk a lot of this up to the federal flood insurance program.

After Katrina a serious revision was made to the program that balanced the programs books, meaning the potential floodies now pay a premium in line with the risk. Raise/strengthen the house or pay dearly or go bare and risk it all. Even the bible talks of building on sand and rock. Trimming the trees back from the houses and power lines helps also.

So many people do stupid things and want someone to help them ( federal gov.)when things go south. Forward thinking is not part of Americas education system.

Well, increasingly, the Caribbean Globe has that part covered.
An innovative risk-pooling scheme called the Caribbean Global Catastrophe Apocalypse Risk Insurance Facility
has recently secured a $30 million Gazillion catastrophe Apocalypse bond from the World Bank,
the first one it’s ever issued specifically for hurricane shockingly benign climate change risk.
The idea is being held up as a possible model for climate change adaptation adoption,

There, I fixed that a little bit …(crossed fingers and hoping all my html tags are ok)

Consider the following to be sarcasm. I think it should be called satire but then I also think that the Chia Pet makes a great gift.

Rumor* has it that Eric Holthaus was so nervous when he went for his vasectomy that he accidently opted for a lobotomy. When the surgeon inquired about the reason for the procedure, Holthaus replied, “just start cutting, I have to save the planet.”

As the surgeon began to kill off the left frontal lobe, Holthaus, hoping to minimize scarring, implored the doctor to use Mike’s nature trick to hide the decline (scar). As the procedure finished and all of his higher brain function had been wiped away, Holthaus started ranting about the ocean hiding his hockey stick and that someone had stolen his Nobel Prize. He kept referring to himself in the third person as, “distinguished professor.”

Finally, during a brief period of relative lucidity, Holthaus shouted, “We have to destroy the islands in order to save them.” and that is how he became the beloved and admired hero of the thinking man that he is today .A true visionary. If anyone can save our planet, uhh never mind, I better not go there.

*Source:
A guy I know knows this guy, who knows this guy, who used to date this other guy’s sister, whose best friend was married to Holthaus’ dog groomer. Anyway, the dog groomer’s son, who is in the second grade, claims he that he witnessed the entire surgical procedure. Ok, the sarcasm is over. Nothing more to see here. You may go now.

Mike from Carson Valley a particularly cold place that could benefit from some warmingsays:

This is rich. Less than 10 years ago, the worry was there would be too many. The trapping hot spot theory would lead to more hurricanes. The tweet by this guy reveals alot.. the ignorance as to the main thermostat of the planetary climate.. the tropical oceans. heres why:

I showed at Heartland the drop in the mixing ratios at 400 mb over the tropics since the PDO went cold. The cooling in the tropical pacific leads to a) more drought over the US, and b) more drying over the tropical oceans.. PACIFIC first, but it then spreads into the atlantic basin. This was in the section on debunking the EPA trapping hot spot theory, since the cooling evident in the NCEP charts since 2007 and the dropping ace all coincide with the PDO flip and resultant dropping of the Mixing ratios over the tropics. As a meteorologist, and as a climate player if you want to be nice about it, this guy should know right off the bat what that means. 1) that there is going to be less overall activity in the tropics. The atlantic basin would have to have a reduction in number of MDR storms if its drier in the longer term. We saw this in the 1950s, that the intensity of storms because greater due to a warm AMO but they were more fierce further north. This also explains that part of the forecast problem. Notice how in the 1950s, many of the strongest storms were further north than normal. But the problem is he doesnt seem to realize that by tweeting this, he is admitting his sides position on trapping hot spots, increased hurricane activity is, and the whole EPA idea on this, is completely wrong. And its amazing how many of these you see,, easy to counter with simple deduction just by looking at linkage and cause and effect.

Now here is what is interesting and why the la nina off an el nino in a warm amo leads to hurricane bursting in the atlantic ( put it this way, a contributing factor). Think about the el nino of 94… warm amo developed.. high ace season 95-96. 97 el nino. High ace 98-99 seasons, El Nino 02.. then 04.. 04 not strong enough, but the burst comes anyway. El Nino 06.. 08 big season. el nino 09 big seasons ace wise follow 10-11,even 12, though MDR shut down. But 13 in spite of no el nino.. and a la nina not much.

So here is what I am working on. Does the INCREASE IN TROPICAL PACIFIC SST then seed the atlantic season in the coming years by increasing the mixing ratios over the tropics.. obviously Pacific first. In other words, and this is what we have to watch.. is the warming this year in the Pacific going to lead to a lag in the increase in atlantic mixing ratios that will then react next year working its way over the tropical atlantic in the coming 2 or 3 years and mega season comes back into the Caribbean in a way where the tweets from guys like this, though being explained by guys like me before hand, start screaming global warming, when in reality it is the simple pendulum that is swinging back.

Side note: The atmosphere is reversible and does so all the time. I am told that vasectomies are not though